ESOL Endorsement

Each of these 5 (60 hour) courses satisfy the Florida Department of Education's ESOL training requirements for Category I (Primary Language Arts/English) teachers who need 300 hours of ESOL. All courses are required for ESOL Endorsement. NEFEC's online professional learning provides meaningful and authentic material, access to a variety of research-based best practices, mentoring by our state's experts, and practical application for increased student performance.

ESOL Endorsement Courses can be taken in any order.

Cross Cultural Communication (60 hours) - Designed to increase awareness and sensitivity to diverse cultures by highlighting similarities and differences as they relate to language and communication. Participants will learn how to adapt classroom instructional practices to meet the needs of students with varying cultural backgrounds.

Applied Linguistics (60 hours) - Provides educators with the skills needed to acquire a deeper understanding of the structure of English from a modern day linguistic perspective. Enables the educator to analyze the structure of English to contrast with the language(s) of the target population in a given class. Participants learn how to adapt classroom instructional practices to meet the linguistic needs of their English language learners.

Methods of Teaching ESOL (60 hours) - Designed to provide educators with the necessary skills to determine appropriate instructional methods and strategies for teaching English language learners. Educators will use their knowledge of current first and second language acquisition to plan and deliver appropriate, effective instruction.

Curriculum and Materials (60 hours) - Developed to enable educators to select appropriate instructional materials to support the unique needs of English language learners. Educators will be able to determine which materials are effective for the ELL based on his or her communicative skills.

Testing and Evaluation (60 hours) - Upon completion of this course, participants will be prepared to appropriately evaluate instructional outcomes while recognizing the effects of the ELL's language proficiency and culture. Educators will also be able to select and use formal/informal methods of assessment for the ELL in order to make informed decisions about instruction.

Online ESOL Endorsement courses are 10-weeks long. The courses offer flexibility to work at your convenience during the week but assignments within the week are due each Sunday. Participants will spend approximately 6-8 hours per week to complete a module with two or more lessons. The courses are completely online and require no face-to-face meetings or specific dates/times required to be online.

Three days (Friday) before the scheduled start date of the course (Monday), an email will be sent to each participant with login information and directions for accessing the course through Blackboard, NEFEC's course management system. Sometimes legitimate email messages are filtered by Spam filters within and email program. If you have not received login information by the close of business on the Friday before the course start date, please check first to see if the message is in a junk or spam mail folder within your email program. If you do not find it, contact elearning@nefec.org, to verify your email and to have the information resent.

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.